Die österreichische Militärgrenze

Christoph Pöll

Abstract

The Austrian Military Frontier

The following paper is about the so called Austrian Military Frontier on the Balkans. It will be shown, that this Military Frontier has never been a clear line between the austrian and the ottoman empire like the Iron Curtain between the BDR and the DDR during the second half of the twentieth century. The Austrian Military Frontier has been much more than a demarcation line. It was a country in the austrian empire with a specific population and a specific life-style. Although the Military Frontier only existed until 1881, there have been some long-term effects that led directly into the Yugoslavian Civil War in the 1990s of the last century. Especially the religion of the former Military Frontiers was one of this leading effects and was caused by the establishment of the Military Frontier.